Wild Duck Called Gretchen Came and Stayed 22 Years

15 years ago

In 1959 a lady call wanting her lawn mowed and while there we found a hen mallard that had been torn up by some animal. She was near deaths door. I took her home and got my fishing line and needle and cleaned and stitched the many wounds up. She seemed to know I wanted to help and didn't struggle at all(shock comes to mind now). She was very weak. Put her on a heat pad and next morning she was standing and very hungry. Feed her some scratch feed and bits and pieces of what ever I was eating-she loved it. I don't know how old she was-but know she was a fully grown hen because she left an egg in her box the third day there. Time went by and the stitches came out she was all healed and grew new feathers where they were pulled out. She followed me every where, it was funny to watch her walk up and down the lawn as I pushed the mower. She didn't like being out of site of me. As summer ended-school started Gretchen would fly beside or behind the bus all the way to school. She tried to follow me inside but you all know how that ended that first day. Everybody was talking about the duck that wanted to go to school. Next day the same happened but this time Mrs Beadle (science teacher) was coming in and took Gretchen to her classroom for the day. After that Gretchen had to be put in a pen while I was in school-I didn't like that. It seemed wrong to pen a wild animal up. I was 8 years old then. As the years went by Gretchen stayed around and would always come flying when I called. She loved setting on anything-once she was missing for 3 days and when I found her she had driven a peacock off it's nest and finished hatching 11 little pea chicks. It was weird to see them follow her around when they we 12 weeks old-5X her size. There were many years that past and in May of 1981 Gretchen died. I had lost my best friend-couldn't eat for days. Often think of her and funny things she would do. Am grateful for the 22 years with her in my life. Would love to hear about your best friends.

Comments (2)

goldenpond
15 years ago
What a great story!
While attending Bible college in Clarks Summit PA we lived in a great old farmhouse.I got my son (then 8)a pet gosling at his insistance. After three days he paid no attention to her and said he only wanted her for awhile.(we never did get him another pet) She ended up being MY pet and at first she was indoors in a box. I have an old photo of me holding her and a cat who was fond of her. The younger son just a toddler began calling her Doe Doe PeeP.
When Doe Doe got big she had to live outside but snuggled up to the backdoor on a chance one of the kids would leave it open and she could sneak in.One day my hubby was taking out a HUGE bag of trash and accidentally stepped on Doe Doe. Her skin was ripped from her neck and she was blind,one eye not even able to open.She just went round and round and round.I told hubby to do something and even though we were ministry students with a tight budget he took Doe Doe to a bird Dr. The bird Dr gave us ointments,eye drops and antibiotics and said if it was him he would want to live. I faithfully administered the meds rubbing her eyes with the eye drops. Eventuall the closed eye opened and she had sight in only one eye. her feathers grew back just beautifully and I remember she had one black feather on her shoulder we called her beauty mark.Doe Doe followed me around and was a great guard goose. She always had to turn her good side to you in order to see and she'd cock her head and look at you with her one good eye.
I depended on my veggie patch for food for our young family , Someone said geese ate bugs off veggies so I fenced in my veggie patch and allowed Doe Doe the run of it (complete with kiddy pool.)Bad MOVE! Doe Doe ate everything I planted down to the ground! Soon the fence was to keep her out!
When we put the house up for sale the realtors were not happy showing the place because they were soon chased away by our overprotective goose. We were moving to Florida and my hubby would NOT entertain the thought of travelling that far with a goose. We put her in the back of our station wagon and headed to my sister's in the middle of PA. We got in a traffic jam,a standstill and I'll never forget the looks on peoples faces at a goose in a station wagon.
Now I have grandkids and am raising three ducks who Ill soon let enjoy my big pond.we are just waiting for a few more feathers to come in. The grands have enjoyed watching them grow.
seramas
Original Author
15 years ago
Let wild be wild.
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